I agree with most of what you say, though I think less highly of the prospects of PA reform than you do. But the big obstacle that you don't mention is disarming Hamas. Anybody (Israel, Arabs, Americans,...) that tries to do that has a big war with lots of casualties on its hands...and civilian deaths in Gaza will be horrific (again).
Israel has so far committed at least 194 violations of a “ceasefire” that, to many Palestinians in Gaza, has felt like “just a declaration, not a reality.” Last Wednesday, the IDF killed 104 Palestinians, including 46 children, in a single night of bombing.
Since last week’s heavy bombardment, daily Israeli violations—including shootings, airstrikes, and home demolitions—have killed an average of ten Palestinians each day. As of November 6, Israel has killed at least 241 Palestinians since the “ceasefire” went into effect. Israel continues to block the entrance of aid and medical supplies, also in violation of the ceasefire.
Experts estimate it could take decades to rebuild Gaza, an undertaking that itself must wait until the rubble—under which are trapped an estimated 10,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, as well as the remaining bodies of Israeli hostages—is cleared and the bodies are removed. In addition to blocking aid, Israel is also blocking the heavy equipment necessary to clear rubble and retrieve the bodies of Palestinians and Israeli hostages alike.
Additionally, Gaza is littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, some of which have already killed people. Meanwhile, violent clashes between Hamas and rival groups threaten to catch civilians in the crosshairs.
In a glimmer of hope, Palestinian children are gradually returning to school after two years of educational deprivation.
Mamdani Wins NYC Mayoral Race
On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani claimed a decisive victory over Andrew Cuomo and became the first Muslim and the first South Asian mayor-elect in New York City history. The unapologetically pro-Palestine democratic socialist captured more than 50% of the vote—in an election that boasted the largest voter turnout since 1969—despite the shamelessly Islamophobic and embarrassingly expensive efforts of dozens of billionaires.
Mamdani’s pluralistic campaign won over large swaths of Jewish New York—from young progressives to liberal zionists to Satmar Hasidim—by articulating the same vision of shared safety that IfNotNow proudly champions. Exit polls suggest around a third of New York Jews voted for Mamdani, and some pre-election polls had him winning a substantial majority of Jews under 45. Mamdani’s broad-based support among New York Jews provoked President Trump—who supported Cuomo both publicly and behind the scenes—to rave on Truth Social that any Jew who votes for Mamdani is “a stupid person.”
Jewish New Yorkers’ support for Mamdani has also surfaced a reactionary defensiveness from many establishment Jewish institutions and leaders, captured most vividly in a recent anti-Mamdani letter signed by more than a thousand rabbis and cantors. The letter, coordinated by an AIPAC-aligned group that calls itself “The Jewish Majority,” traffics in the familiar Islamophobia and crude reduction of Jewish identity that has long defined the pro-Israel lobby. The letter has prompted numerous responses from other rabbis and Jewish community members countering the letter’s dangerous and out-of-touch assertions. For more on this Jewish communal discourse, we recommend this Jewish Currents podcast episode, aptly titled “The Rabbinic Freak-Out About Zohran Mamdani.”
After Mamdani’s win, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced it had established a “Mamdani Monitor” to track the new mayor’s policies and appointments. Though the ADL claims to fight antisemitism, the far-right organization instead weaponizes bad-faith accusations of antisemitism to squash all criticism of Israel on the U.S. left while excusing literal nazism on the pro-Israel MAGA right.
A Month of Violent Dispossession in the West Bank
The past month has seen more Israeli settler violence than any on record in the occupied West Bank, as state-backed illegal settlers violently disrupted the annual Palestinian olive harvest. For the tens of thousands of Palestinian olive farmers, this campaign of settler terrorism—part of a longstanding Israeli effort to displace Palestinians from the largely rural “Area C” of the West Bank—threatens their very way of life.
Ilan, I agree with your analysis. Bibi surely has to go and hopefully he will when new elections happen. However, your analysis didn’t dwell on the fact that Olmert and Abbas came close but Abbas could not bring himself to make the deal. This is a big part of the calculus - the Palestinians have really not fully accepted the idea of Israel being a Jewish state. Hopefully that will happen with new elections for Palestinians in the coming year(if it really happens). Maybe Marwan Barghouti will win the election (from jail) and he will announce that he accepts Israel as a Jewish state, and then maybe there can be real movement towards a two state solution.
If, ever, the Palestinians acknowledge, publicly, the Jewish Peoples historical ties to the land and not labeled as interlopers, would there be a possibility of this conflict coming to an end.
Just curious why this particular issue has never been addressed by JStreet.
I agree with most of what you say, though I think less highly of the prospects of PA reform than you do. But the big obstacle that you don't mention is disarming Hamas. Anybody (Israel, Arabs, Americans,...) that tries to do that has a big war with lots of casualties on its hands...and civilian deaths in Gaza will be horrific (again).
Tragic:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/banned-from-israel-for-10-years-us-jewish-peace-activist-feels-sense-of-betrayal/ ("Banned from Israel for 10 years, US Jewish peace activist feels ‘sense of betrayal’")
IfNotNow has reported:
Israel Continues to Violate "Ceasefire"
Israel has so far committed at least 194 violations of a “ceasefire” that, to many Palestinians in Gaza, has felt like “just a declaration, not a reality.” Last Wednesday, the IDF killed 104 Palestinians, including 46 children, in a single night of bombing.
Since last week’s heavy bombardment, daily Israeli violations—including shootings, airstrikes, and home demolitions—have killed an average of ten Palestinians each day. As of November 6, Israel has killed at least 241 Palestinians since the “ceasefire” went into effect. Israel continues to block the entrance of aid and medical supplies, also in violation of the ceasefire.
Experts estimate it could take decades to rebuild Gaza, an undertaking that itself must wait until the rubble—under which are trapped an estimated 10,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, as well as the remaining bodies of Israeli hostages—is cleared and the bodies are removed. In addition to blocking aid, Israel is also blocking the heavy equipment necessary to clear rubble and retrieve the bodies of Palestinians and Israeli hostages alike.
Additionally, Gaza is littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, some of which have already killed people. Meanwhile, violent clashes between Hamas and rival groups threaten to catch civilians in the crosshairs.
In a glimmer of hope, Palestinian children are gradually returning to school after two years of educational deprivation.
Mamdani Wins NYC Mayoral Race
On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani claimed a decisive victory over Andrew Cuomo and became the first Muslim and the first South Asian mayor-elect in New York City history. The unapologetically pro-Palestine democratic socialist captured more than 50% of the vote—in an election that boasted the largest voter turnout since 1969—despite the shamelessly Islamophobic and embarrassingly expensive efforts of dozens of billionaires.
Mamdani’s pluralistic campaign won over large swaths of Jewish New York—from young progressives to liberal zionists to Satmar Hasidim—by articulating the same vision of shared safety that IfNotNow proudly champions. Exit polls suggest around a third of New York Jews voted for Mamdani, and some pre-election polls had him winning a substantial majority of Jews under 45. Mamdani’s broad-based support among New York Jews provoked President Trump—who supported Cuomo both publicly and behind the scenes—to rave on Truth Social that any Jew who votes for Mamdani is “a stupid person.”
Jewish New Yorkers’ support for Mamdani has also surfaced a reactionary defensiveness from many establishment Jewish institutions and leaders, captured most vividly in a recent anti-Mamdani letter signed by more than a thousand rabbis and cantors. The letter, coordinated by an AIPAC-aligned group that calls itself “The Jewish Majority,” traffics in the familiar Islamophobia and crude reduction of Jewish identity that has long defined the pro-Israel lobby. The letter has prompted numerous responses from other rabbis and Jewish community members countering the letter’s dangerous and out-of-touch assertions. For more on this Jewish communal discourse, we recommend this Jewish Currents podcast episode, aptly titled “The Rabbinic Freak-Out About Zohran Mamdani.”
After Mamdani’s win, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced it had established a “Mamdani Monitor” to track the new mayor’s policies and appointments. Though the ADL claims to fight antisemitism, the far-right organization instead weaponizes bad-faith accusations of antisemitism to squash all criticism of Israel on the U.S. left while excusing literal nazism on the pro-Israel MAGA right.
A Month of Violent Dispossession in the West Bank
The past month has seen more Israeli settler violence than any on record in the occupied West Bank, as state-backed illegal settlers violently disrupted the annual Palestinian olive harvest. For the tens of thousands of Palestinian olive farmers, this campaign of settler terrorism—part of a longstanding Israeli effort to displace Palestinians from the largely rural “Area C” of the West Bank—threatens their very way of life.
The PA committed to non-violence? What have you been drinking? The PA has been encouraging murder of Jews forever through its pay for slay program!
Ilan, I agree with your analysis. Bibi surely has to go and hopefully he will when new elections happen. However, your analysis didn’t dwell on the fact that Olmert and Abbas came close but Abbas could not bring himself to make the deal. This is a big part of the calculus - the Palestinians have really not fully accepted the idea of Israel being a Jewish state. Hopefully that will happen with new elections for Palestinians in the coming year(if it really happens). Maybe Marwan Barghouti will win the election (from jail) and he will announce that he accepts Israel as a Jewish state, and then maybe there can be real movement towards a two state solution.
If, ever, the Palestinians acknowledge, publicly, the Jewish Peoples historical ties to the land and not labeled as interlopers, would there be a possibility of this conflict coming to an end.
Just curious why this particular issue has never been addressed by JStreet.
Because they have no rights, which is also true of the American Indians' rights to our country.